The silver lining to all that Scottie Pippen has been saying about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls so far, is that he at least admitted that MJ was the best teammate he ever had. This should give fans some relief that not all was bad in the 90s Bulls dynasty. However, in the same interview with Tyler Tynes of GQ, Pippen also revealed that Kobe Bryant was the one player he wishes he could have teamed up with.
Did Kobe Bryant come to Scottie Pippen for advice?
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Jordan and Kobe Bryant always had a very close relationship with each other. In fact, even in ‘The Last Dance’, he accepted that the Bulls legend was like his big brother, and he was very thankful for all that he learn from him. Although Pippen and Kobe were hardly that close, the former was still in awe of the latter.
“The one teammate that I wish I could’ve played with and I didn’t play with was Kobe Bryant,” said Pippen during his GQ interview. However, he also revealed that Bryant often came to him to better his game. He stated, “Kobe really idolized the way I played the game, the way that I defended, and you know, a lot of it, he started to call me after I retired and to ask questions about different situations.”
“How you would guard certain people? What kind of footwork would you do this? What would you do in this situation? Just picking your brain to enhance his ability out on the basketball court. You know, he was a great student of the game, and you know, he would ask me questions about how would I guard Michael in this situation, this and that. And just, you know, just trying to improve his craft.”
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Will these shocking revelations die down anytime soon?
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With Pippen’s memoir ‘Unguarded’ published, all it has done is spark controversy after controversy. Those who want to believe all that he is saying are also unable to because of the timing of his revelations. If he had so much to say about the way he was portrayed in ‘The Last Dance’, he had a lot of time to do it.
He didn’t have to wait for the book to come out and do the job for him. While this mostly seems like a PR stunt, it won’t be settling down anytime soon. This is the greatest dynasty and the GOAT that we are talking about, whose reputation has been dragged into question. So far, mum’s been the word from Michael Jordan‘s side, which is quite unlike him. Do you think he will retaliate?
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